Research is being conducted on novel active and passive photonic devices based on silicon carbide (SiC). Due to its wide bandgap, nonlinear optical effects, and optically active defects (color centers), SiC offers significant advantages over silicon for both active and passive photonics as well as quantum photonics.
In the field of active photonic devices, the large bandgap of 3.2 eV in the 4H-SiC polytype is utilized to realize integrated UV photodetectors. These can be used as a significantly more cost-effective alternative to conventional UV photodiodes. Additionally, research is being conducted on materials and devices for integrated light emission and detection.
Passive photonics encompasses, among other things, the development of waveguides, beam splitters, and ring resonators based on the SiC-on-Insulator (SiCOI) platform. A central focus is the integrated guidance, manipulation, and filtering of light for color-center-based quantum technologies (quantum sensing, communication, and computing).
Current Research
- Development, Design, and Modeling of Vertical 4H-SiC PIN Photodiodes for Highly Sensitive UV-C and VUV Photon Detection (Ph.D. project in collaboration with Fraunhofer IISB)
- Silicon Carbide Qubits Towards a Fab-Ready Technology (Fabian Magerl)
- Integrated photodetector concepts for color-center-based quantum electronics (Robert Kammel)
- Development of a SiC APD for the detection of UVC radiation (Ph.D. project in cooperation with Fraunhofer IISB)
Publications
2026
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Impact of Surface Treatment on Noise in PL Measurements of Silicon Vacancies in 4H-SiC Lateral PIN-Diodes
In: Nano Letters 26 (2026), p. 6567-6575
ISSN: 1530-6984
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6c00646
No activities found.
2025
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600 °C Operation of a LDMOS Integrated on a 4H-SiC CMOS Platform
48th MIPRO ICT and Electronics Convention, MIPRO 2025 (Opatija, 2. June 2025 - 6. June 2025)
In: Snjezana Babic, Zeljka Car, Marina Cicin-Sain, Pavle Ergovic, Tihana Galina Grbac, Vera Gradisnik, Stjepan Gros, Alan Jovic, Darko Jurekovic, Tihomir Katulic, Marko Koricic, Vedran Mornar, Juraj Petrovic, Karolj Skala, Dejan Skvorc, Vlado Sruk, Edvard Tijan, Joe S. Valacich, Neven Vrcek, Boris Vrdoljak (ed.): 2025 MIPRO 48th ICT and Electronics Convention, MIPRO 2025 - Proceedings 2025
DOI: 10.1109/MIPRO65660.2025.11131887
2020
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Technologieentwicklung und Herstellung von SiC-basierten (V)UV-Photodioden mit Ionenimplantierten p-Emitter
(Third Party Funds Group – Sub project)
Overall project: Technologieentwicklung, Herstellung und Charakterisierung von SiC-basierten (V)UV-Photodioden mit Ionenimplantierten p-Emitter
Project leader:
Term: 1. January 2020 - 31. May 2022
Funding source: Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWE)A new manufacturing method for SiC-based (V)UV-photodiodes with an ion implanted emitter will be developed. Photodiodes with a sensitivity for wavelengths below 200 nm (Vacuum-UV) are of special interest. Therefore, a shallow p-emitter is necessary, whose manufacturing process based on an ion implantation of Aluminum will be investigated. Perfectly fitted implantation energies, doses, angles and stay oxide thicknesses shall reduce the occurring channeling effect in SiC and lead to a low emitter depth. Simultaneously, the diffusion behavior of shallow Aluminum doping profiles will be studied. The occurring crystallographic damage due to the ion implantation shall be recovered and annealed. In this context, the used process steps will be optimized and may be supplemented with additional measures in order to enhance the carrier lifetime especially in the near-surface depletion region. The high temperature process used for the annealing and the activation of Aluminum can produce carbon vacancies. Since these may act as recombination centers and worsen the carrier lifetime, new methods to minimize the carbon vacancies will be considered. The different process options oxidation and TEOS deposition to build up the SiO2 anti-reflective layer will be compared. In this context, the homogeneity of the sensitivity over the wafer and the impact on the interface defect density are the main focus. Additionally, different design variation will be analyzed, e.g. a finger structure for contacting the emitter, with the aim of reducing potentially high series resistances of a shallow emitter. Analytical and numerical device simulation are used to support the dimensioning and the results of the experiments will allow an enhancement of the simulation models.
Contact
Jan Dick
Research associates